Nursing Theory and the Clinical Gaze: Discovery in Teaching Theory Across a Cultural Divide

The purpose of this column is to describe the experience of teaching nursing theory in Uganda, Africa. The author is a nurse educator from the United States, who with support of a Fulbright grant was a visiting lecturer at Uganda Christian University in Mukono, Uganda. The students were two cohorts of Ugandan graduate nursing students. The account is presented as a case study in exploring the nature, justification, and utility of theory for nurses internationally. Teaching and discussion strategies are described as well as the philosophical and theoretical frameworks for analyzing and defending the building and use of theory in nursing. A convergence of evidence leads to a recognition of implicit theory as constituting the nurse’s clinical gaze.